Sam Montembeault might not be a Montreal Canadiens goalie much longer, and it has nothing to do with his play falling off a cliff.
Heading into training camp, the Canadiens look ready to lean on a Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler tandem, pushing Montembeault down the depth chart entirely.
Dobes took over as the de facto number one during last season's stretch run and playoffs, with Fowler serving as his backup once the games mattered most.
That shift left Montembeault in an odd spot. His contract runs through 2027, but the trust from the coaching staff has clearly moved on to the kids.
There's a real logistics problem too. Unlike waiver-exempt Fowler, Montembeault likely wouldn't clear waivers if Montreal simply tried to send him down.
That makes him a tricky asset to just stash as a third goalie. Teams can run three netminders for a while, but rarely as a long-term plan.
Why Montembeault's numbers still make him tradeable
Montembeault posted a .873 save percentage over 25 games last season at a $3,150,000 cap hit, numbers that won't scare off a goalie-needy team looking for a cheap veteran option.
Dobes, meanwhile, went 20 wins over 43 games with a .901 save percentage, exactly the kind of workload jump that pushes a veteran out the door.
Fowler added a .908 save percentage across 17 games as a 21-year-old, the kind of number that tells you why Montreal isn't blinking on this decision.
Montreal finished last season at 48-24-10 with 106 points, good for sixth overall. A contender like that wants certainty in net, not a crowded three-goalie mess.
Trading Montembeault now, while he still has value as a stopgap starter elsewhere, makes a lot more sense than watching him rot as a healthy scratch all winter.
Whether general manager Kent Hughes finds a taker before camp opens, or lets this play out into the season, is still very much up in the air.
Source: NHL Rumors: Gauthier Rejects Ducks, Montembeault Trade, Demko Out, Crosby Extension
Should the Canadiens trade Sam Montembeault before training camp opens?
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